No. S 677
Medical Registration Act
(CHAPTER 174)
Medical Registration
(Amendment) Regulations 2012
In exercise of the powers conferred by section 70 of the Medical Registration Act, the Singapore Medical Council, with the approval of the Minister for Health, hereby makes the following Regulations:
Citation and commencement
1.  These Regulations may be cited as the Medical Registration (Amendment) Regulations 2012 and shall come into operation on 1st January 2013.
Amendment of regulation 24
2.  Regulation 24 of the Medical Registration Regulations 2010 (G.N. No. S 733/2010) (referred to in these Regulations as the principal Regulations) is amended —
(a)by deleting the words “item 10 or 11” in paragraph (3) and substituting the words “item 8 or 9”;
(b)by deleting sub-paragraph (a) of paragraph (3) and substituting the following sub-paragraph:
(a)he has filed with the Medical Council, in such form and manner as may be specified in the Council’s website, a declaration that —
(i)he is currently not in active practice and has no regular patient contact; or
(ii)he will be ceasing active practice on a specified date and will no longer have regular patient contact; and”;
(c)by deleting paragraph (4) and substituting the following paragraph:
(4)  A registered medical practitioner referred to in paragraph (3) may resume active practice only if, in the period of 24 months immediately preceding the date on which he has indicated to the Medical Council that he wishes to resume active practice, he obtains at least 50 continuing medical education points of which at least 10 are from one or more general or specific core programmes.”; and
(d)by deleting paragraphs (6) and (7) and substituting the following paragraph:
(6)  In computing the total number of continuing medical education points obtained by a registered medical practitioner applying for the renewal of his practising certificate, only points obtained by him during the qualifying period shall be considered.”.
Amendment of regulation 25
3.  Regulation 25 of the principal Regulations is amended by inserting, immediately after paragraph (2), the following paragraph:
(3)  Notwithstanding paragraph (2), the Medical Council may, between 1st January 2013 and 31st December 2014 (both dates inclusive), renew a practising certificate for a period of 12 months or less for the sole purpose of ensuring that the practising certificate expires on 31st December of the year of renewal.”.
Amendment of regulation 65
4.  Regulation 65 of the principal Regulations is amended by inserting, immediately after paragraph (3), the following paragraph:
(3A)  In addition to the requirements in paragraph (1), an application for restoration to the Register of Family Physicians shall be accompanied by a certificate obtained, within one month before the application, from the Family Physicians Accreditation Board under section 35B of the Act.”.
Amendment of Third Schedule
5.  The Third Schedule to the principal Regulations is amended by deleting Form B.
Deletion and substitution of Fourth Schedule
6.  The Fourth Schedule to the principal Regulations is deleted and the following Schedule substituted therefor:
FOURTH SCHEDULE
Regulations 21(1) and 24(2) and (3)
Requisite number of continuing
medical education points
First column
Second column
Third column
Fourth column
Description of practitioner applying for grant or renewal of practising certificate
Requisite number of continuing medical education points
Minimum percentage of requisite number of continuing medical education points from core programmes and types of core programmes
Qualifying period
1.Practitioner in active practice (other than one referred to in item 3 or 5) applying to renew a practising certificate with a validity period of 24 months
50 points
20% of the requisite number of continuing medical education points from one or more general or specific core programmes
The period of 2 years ending on 31st December of the year in which the current practising certificate expires
2.Practitioner in active practice (other than one referred to in item 4 or 6) applying to renew a practising certificate with a validity period of 12 months
25 points
20% of the requisite number of continuing medical education points from one or more general or specific core programmes
The calendar year in which the current practising certificate expires
3.Practitioner in active practice (other than one referred to in item 5) who is registered in 2 or more branches of medicine under the Register of Specialists or Register of Family Physicians, applying to renew a practising certificate with a validity period of 24 months
50 points
20% of the requisite number of continuing medical education points from one or more core programmes in each of those branches of medicine
Illustrations
If the practitioner is registered in Internal Medicine and Cardiology, he must obtain at least 10 points from one or more core programmes in Internal Medicine and at least 10 points from one or more core programmes in Cardiology
If the practitioner is registered in the specialty of Internal Medicine and in the Family Physicians Register, he must obtain at least 10 points from one or more core programmes in Internal Medicine and at least 10 points from one or more core programmes in Family Medicine
The period of 2 years ending on 31st December of the year in which the current practising certificate expires
4.Practitioner in active practice (other than one referred to in item 6) who is registered in 2 or more branches of medicine under the Register of Specialists or Register of Family Physicians, applying to renew a practising certificate with a validity period of 12 months
25 points
20% of the requisite number of continuing medical education points from one or more core programmes in each of those branches of medicine
Illustrations
If the practitioner is registered in Internal Medicine and Cardiology, he must obtain at least 5 points from one or more core programmes in Internal Medicine and at least 5 points from one or more core programmes in Cardiology
If the practitioner is registered in the specialty of Internal Medicine and in the Family Physicians Register, he must obtain at least 5 points from one or more core programmes in Internal Medicine and at least 5 points from one or more core programmes in Family Medicine
The calendar year in which the current practising certificate expires
5.Practitioner in active practice applying to renew a practising certificate with a validity period of more than 12 months, where the date of issue of the current practising certificate is not 1st January
Pro-rated as follows:
where A is the number of days between the date of issue of the current practising certificate and the end of the qualifying period
20% of the requisite number of continuing medical education points from one or more general or specific core programmes
The period beginning on the date of issue of the current practising certificate and ending on 31st December of the year in which the current practising certificate expires
6.Practitioner in active practice applying to renew a practising certificate with a validity period of 12 months or less, where the date of issue of the current practising certificate is not 1st January
Pro-rated as follows:
where B is the number of days between the date of issue of the current practising certificate and the end of the qualifying period
20% of the requisite number of continuing medical education points from one or more general or specific core programmes
The period beginning on the date of issue of the current practising certificate and ending on 31st December of the year in which the current practising certificate expires
7.Practitioner (including one whose name was removed from the register) applying for the grant of a practising certificate
50 points
20% of the requisite number of continuing medical education points from one or more general or specific core programmes
The period of 24 months prior to the date of application for a practising certificate
8.Practitioner not in active practice applying to renew a practising certificate with a validity period of 24 months
20 points
The period of 2 years ending on 31st December of the year in which the current practising certificate expires
9.Practitioner not in active practice applying to renew a practising certificate with a validity period of 12 months
10 points
The calendar year in which the current practising certificate expires.
”.
[G.N. Nos. S 357/2011; S 659/2011]
Made this 26th day of December 2012.
TAN SER KIAT
President,
Singapore Medical Council,
Singapore.
[SMC 1.2 Vol. 4; AG/LLRD/SL/174/2010/2 Vol. 3]